It is truly sad that the government leaders are influenced at all because of the opinions of entertainers. It is sadder still that they have to be, because of the influence these loud mouths have over the hearts and minds of so many of the American people. One day long ago, Sampson slew a thosand Phillistines with the jawbone of an a55. Today, all reasoned debate has been slain with much the same weapon.

Rush will support the Republican nominee, whoever it is... many good potential candidates... preferably a new national figure , not Newt or any 2008 candidates....John ThuneMitch DanielsChris ChristieBobby Jindalor a new Republican among the many who will be elected in November's landslide...

It is truly sad that the government leaders are influenced at all because of the opinions of entertainers. It is sadder still that they have to be, because of the influence these loud mouths have over the hearts and minds of so many of the American people. One day long ago, Sampson slew a thosand Phillistines with the jawbone of an a55. Today, all reasoned debate has been slain with much the same weapon.Posted by easydoesit2

Agreed, but you must also include blame for those influenced.

A person who thinks for himself or herself would not simply swallow everything an entertainer says. Sure, we're all necessarily limited by the sources of our information. But nowadays, one can cross-check across many sites. You're still facing the limitation that most of what you're getting is second-hand knowledge (unless you're actually sitting on the committee that the newspaper article that you want to fact-check discusses)....

But still! People are to blame for being influenced by the loudmouths.

I generally fall on the liberal side of the things, but if I turned on the T.V. and heard John Stewart claim that 100 republican congressmen introduced a bill that would ban the Democratic party....I'd be immeidately skeptical and run out to fact check....

But when some people hear Sarah Palin say the Democrats are putting "Death Panels" in legislation to kill grandma early.... they seem to just eat it up and repeat it... and shout about Democrats being Nazis for wanting to kill grandma at town hall meetings...

An awful lot of our citizens seem to be missing the "hey wait a minute - what did you just say?" response... and thus commentators and TV personalities can say whatever and actually convince people. And thus, politicians find themselves bound to pander to the commentators.

"If you think Obama's response to the oil spill s*cked, what do you think Palin's would have been?"

Much more knowledgable, at least. Sarah Palin was chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), and was Governor of Alaska, a huge oil producing state. While Obama saw fit to mock Palin's lack of experience on foreign policy, it comes back to bite Obama on this issue. Obama was , and is, totally clueless on this issue, where executive leadership experience would have served him well.

"If you think Obama's response to the oil spill s*cked, what do you think Palin's would have been?" Much more knowledgable, at least. Sarah Palin was chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC), and was Governor of Alaska, a huge oil producing state. Posted by BobinVa

And she oversaw the response to how many oil disasters?

If any, were they a massive blowout one mile under water?

I honestly don't know. But I'd still place a pretty decent bet that the answer is "none - it's worth no more than her 'executive experience' as governor .... of Alaska.... before she quit to do TV shows and a book"

In fact, it's a pretty safe bet: IF she had such experience, you can bet she'd be all over the airwaves talking about it, as a segway to slamming Obama.